Saturday, April 28, 2007

Wacky Legislator Week Continues



Things are fun all over. Maybe it's spring fever.



This guy makes Mike Bishop look like a charm school graduate.



With the threat of a special session looming over a Legislature on Day 88 that has ground to a screeching halt on Montana’s biggest issues, Majority Leader Mike Lange of Billings tore into Gov. Brian Schweitzer at Wednesday’s House Republican Caucus meeting.



“I will never let this guy (Schweitzer) or anybody else cross the line that we set on Day One,” Lange said. “So my message to the governor is ‘Stick it up your ass!’ That’s my message to him. Stick it up your ass!”



Some Republicans applauded, others looked sheepish.



Montana's problem? A billion dollar surplus that they don't quite know what to do with.



Life is hard.



Lange’s remarks to fellow Republicans came after a failed early-morning attempt to negotiate a tax relief plan with Schweitzer and his staff, and offered a glimpse into the intense strain on lawmakers utterly unable to reach a plan balancing the state budget for the next two years while providing some tax relief.



“I give a crap about honor and dignity and sticking up for what you believe in. Today’s the day I’m pissed off at that S-O-B on the second floor (Schweitzer) that thinks he’s going to run the state like a dictator,” Lange said. “So I want each and every one of you to get pissed off today because your way of lifestyle is under threat. It isn’t about a few million bucks in the budget or a deal for a thousand-dollar bill or any other of that crap. It doesn’t mean anything.”



Lange’s quotes come from video shot by Beartooth NBC.



This has made it to YouTube. Technology is a wunnerful thing. Now we can watch asshole legislators from all over the country!



Schweitzer said he is still hopeful a deal can be worked out by Friday, the session’s final day, but if not he will call a special session without pay for legislators “as soon as possible.”



If the Legislature does spill over into a special session, Schweitzer added, “it’s only because they wanted to, not because they couldn’t get it done.”



Without pay. Maybe we should check into that here...